MONTREAL — The era of austerity in Quebec has begun. Finance Minister Carlos Leitão may not have used those words in his budget speech, but you get the picture. After decades of living beyond its means, Quebec is at last waking up to the fact that public spending is unsustainable at its current pace.

Much of the talk surrounding Denis Coderre’s victory as mayor of Montreal has focused on his weak mandate: he received less than 32 per cent of the vote in an election where the turnout was only 43 per cent. You can’t say the same about the mayor in Quebec City. Régis Labeaume was swept back into power for a third term, with a resounding 74 per cent of voter support.

Writing new software is one thing, testing it for bugs is quite another. Software developers can sometimes be overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the task. A Montreal-based company figures it has found something to help.

Writing new software is one thing, testing it for bugs is quite another. Software developers can sometimes be overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the task. A Montreal-based company figures it has found something to help.

It’s the kind of marketing opportunity that money can’t buy. When characters on the TV series CSI talk about identifying a bullet, they use the term IBIS — short for Integrated Ballistics Identification System.

Montreal’s importance as an international financial centre may not be what it was 50 years ago when it still rivalled Toronto as a preferred location for banking and investment firms. That hasn’t stopped some of the top executives in the Montreal financial community from touting the benefits of doing business here.